Getting in touch with what fairs are all about. If you’re wondering, the shirt says “ENGLISH IS IMPORTANT, BUT HISTORY IS IMPORTANTER.” Which of course is very true.
I used to always go to the State Fair. Especially when we lived in Kansas, where farming was such a HUGE deal. You may know that Kansas grows the most winter wheat in the country, but did you know it has the third most cattle, after Texas and Nebraska? In Kansas, the Fair was such a huge deal that when I was there, the Wichita paper parked a trailer there in Hutchinson (53 miles away), full of reporters and photographers, for the duration.
When I came to The State in 1987, there was no need for trailers, since the Fairgrounds were right across the street — and in easy walking distance even after we moved to the new building (which is now crumbling in decay). It still got fairly decent coverage, but not as much as in Kansas, because farming isn’t as big a deal in South Carolina. People here are far more interested in what goes on in that stadium that loomed over the old newspaper building.
But I still loved going to the Fair. I don’t normally enjoy walking around through crowds of people, but the Fair has always been an exception. And for years, as my kids grew up, and then when our grandchildren were young, we went every year. But we haven’t gone that often in recent years, as grandchildren have moved into adolescence and beyond. They still go, just with their friends.
But this year, I DID go twice — once with my wife last Sunday night, and once with my youngest daughter on Friday. And a fine time was had by each of us. We didn’t stay long, but we touched the main bases, which for me are:
- The art competitions in the Cantey Building.
- The prizewinning row crops — watermelons, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and such.
- The farm animals in their buildings on the eastern side of the fairgrounds.
- Fiske Fries (twice)
- Cotton Candy (also twice, getting a monstah bag the second time because I was wearing one of my Red Sox hats).
You’ll note that there were no rides on the list. Also, the activities (aside from fries and cotton candy) were free. Our admission was also free. The first time because we wore our Walk for Life shirts, and the second time because we did the lunch deal. Two hours is plenty enough time for me to do what I go there for.
How about you? Did you go? How did you spend your time? How was it?
There are ways to avoid the crowds. There was a slight drizzle — a mist, really — falling on the first Sunday night. This in no way diminished my enjoyment. Note that my Walk for Life shirt clashes a bit with my rain jacket, but hey — it got me in free.
All last week, I had the line “Our state fair is a great state fair” running through my head. That was all I could remember of the song, but I wasn’t having a senior moment. There’s very little in the way of a lyric to the entire song. Although it’s a bit surprising I forgot the utter silliness of the last lines:
Seriously. I’m not making that up.
Anyway, despite its lack of substance, this earworm caused me to search YouTube, where I found that both the original 1945 film and 1962 remake were available there for free.
I started by watching this clip, because Ann-Margret:
Alas, that clip attests to the low quality of the remake. I’m not criticizing Ms. Olsson’s performance in any way; in fact it’s TOO good. Can you believe that number was part of a live show at a fair? I can’t. It’s hard to fit her into the usual mold of fair acts. You may say many things about Ann-Margret, but you cannot say she was a pop band that had its heyday 40 years earlier.
I went on to watch a few minutes of the full film (which I remembered vaguely from childhood), and can report with confidence that Ann-Margret’s number was probably THE highlight of the film.
My wife and I went on to watch the 1945 version, which we had never seen. It was somewhat better, but we’re talking about a low bar here. It was mainly interesting as an example of popular culture at that moment of history:
You know, I remain convinced that Marilyn Monroe was the sexiest actress ever, although there are many strong contenders for the title.
But Ann-Margret may have been the owner and operator of the Most Seductive Look in film history. That clip is apparently the scene in which Pat Boone first sees and becomes smitten by her. But with that Look of hers, it’s a wonder he didn’t immediately suffer a fatal stroke. I mean, we’re talking Pat Boone here, the personification of the blandness of the 1950s. There’s just no way the poor guy was ready for that…
Okay, you went there. I’d add Raquel Welch to the list.
In another blog post, I mentioned that I was in Cedar Rapids for most of 1994. I went to the Iowa State Fair. It probably compares to Kansas State Fair. In 1996, I made a return trip with my wife. After the state fair, we made a trip to Minneapolis and the Mall of America.
I did some drive-by shooting during my move back home in November 1994 and returning home in 1996. Looking back on the photos. I took a photo of the same dam. The 1994 was taken from a higher perspective since I was driving my van and the trees were bare. During the move home, I had hoped to get the fall colors, but I was too late.
The 1996 photo was from a lower perspective since we were in her sedan and the trees had leaves.
Yeah, I would guess the Iowa fair would be comparable to that of Kansas. In fact, it’s the first state I would think of in that category.
The 1945 version of “State Fair” was set in Iowa. For some reason, they moved the remake to Texas…
Yes.
My father in law has some of his artwork at the fair and we went to see it.
It was expensive but we had fun walking around a bit.
It is indeed expensive. Although, if you can get around the admission it’s not too bad…
Which I did. If you don’t want to participate in Walk for Life (which give you free admission that first weekend, if you wear the shirt), you can go at lunchtime on a weekday. If you go in after 12 and leave by 2, you get your admission money back.
That’s plenty of time to go see your father-in-law’s artwork, and do some other things besides…